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Increase in rats?

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  • 21-10-2017 2:15pm
    #1
    Shefwedfan
    Closed Accounts Posts: 18,958 ✭✭✭✭


    Not sure if right forum but it kind of is gardening :P

    Just wondering if people have seen a large increase in the amount of rats around this year? I am surrounded by grain fields so I know the little critters are in there all summer. If I take last summer I seen a total of 1 rat which was killed by dogs next door. I did have a number of batch's of mice in the log sheds but maybe I was lucky with no rats

    This year it is mental, so far I have found 10 rats dead in garden around the logs. A couple of mice as well but not many. A friend told me if I am finding x number dead I am probably killing at least twice to three times that amount.

    On a daily basis I need to fill the bait stations. I went to check yesterday and monster rat went walking in front of me and out into field without a care in the World. Checked them this morning and all empty

    Anyone else seeing such a huge increase in them?


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    #2
    Shrubsandsudz
    Registered Users Posts: 15 ✭Shrubsandsudz


    "Tis the season" Hate the wee bastards, but as long as they don't get in the house, they can get on with whatever. We saw more about three years ago, but turned up tattie bread, thanks to one of the dogs.

    Mice on the other hand, use the same route, which I gather is down to other mice following the pee from ones who used the route before - but peanut butter slap traps are OP. I just propagated 250 comfrey root cuttings that were sitting happily in the polytunnel till the last two weeks. Turns out they like those cuttings, and started digging them out to munch. 5 dead in 3 days with peanut butter and no more dig holes......I don't want them eating my living!!


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    #3
    _Brian
    Registered Users Posts: 18,567 ✭✭✭✭_Brian


    What bait are you using ?!

    I wouldn’t use block type bait as it’s easily carried.

    Soaked grain type bait needs to be eaten and so is more effective money spent.

    Being on a farm we always had problems and the only solution is cats, since getting two cats I’ve seen no live vermin about.


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    #4
    Shefwedfan
    Closed Accounts Posts: 18,958 ✭✭✭✭Shefwedfan


    _Brian wrote: »
    What bait are you using ?!

    I wouldn’t use block type bait as it’s easily carried.

    Soaked grain type bait needs to be eaten and so is more effective money spent.

    Being on a farm we always had problems and the only solution is cats, since getting two cats I’ve seen no live vermin about.

    I got specific bait from my brother who has hen house....

    Don't know exact name but black smaller stuff which is supposed to be used for mice and then little packs of red grain for rats.....

    I mix the both of them together and it seems to have the desired affect.

    I tried the blocks before, but as you said they carry away. The solution for that is the bait stations I have you can stick in little bar, so drill a hole in block and push bar thru it....too much messing so I got buckets of this other stuff....

    Not really a huge cat fan but it might be the answer, not sure if it would last long with dog


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    #5
    keepalive213
    Closed Accounts Posts: 685 ✭✭✭keepalive213


    Particularly bad year for rats here as well, higher than average rainfall = water rising in drains = more rats displaced/ on the move....


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    #6
    my3cents
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,764 ✭✭✭my3cents


    You can get bait blocks that already have a whole through them.


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    #7
    darrenheaphy
    Registered Users Posts: 761 ✭✭✭darrenheaphy


    5 years ago we had lots of rats about. We got the bait with holes in the middle of them and would nail or screw to wood pieces. Large enough that the rats wouldn't carry it off and it meant we could see where it was being eaten. Now have a cat :)


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    #8
    EPAndlee
    Registered Users Posts: 2,172 ✭✭✭EPAndlee


    Had some in pallets of roof tiles I had in the yard. Put down a couple of cages and caught a few then the cats from across the road finished the job


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    #9
    smacl
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 15,752 Mod ✭✭✭✭smacl


    Not a massive animal lover but having a couple of cats works well for us. I had a poisoned rat crawl under my floorboards (or maybe dry-lining) and die a few years back and the stench was unbearable. This was followed by a plague of flies that would put the Amityville horror to shame. Even after removing plenty of boards and removing in-build kitchen units, never did find the body, but have a deep hatred for rat poison since. We have a shop next door with deli-counter and overflowing bins, who were laying loose poison and have since reverted to traps.


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